Project Zomboid
Release Date: TBADevelopers: Indie Stone
Platform: PC
Genre: Survival RPG
Review by Rhiannon Emery
Argh! Zombies ate my...groin?
First off a confession: I don’t like Zombie games. Surprising to most people who know me and my interest (or as some like to claim obsession) in Zombies I’ve always tried to stay away from the big block buster games such as Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead. The main reason being that for all the blood, gore and dismembered Zombies they all lacked one important thing: Reality. Sure a mad dash to a rescue point through a carnival is plausible and certainly is good, gory fun, but what it isn’t is realistic.
This is where Project Zomboid steps in. Still in development by the guys at IndieStone this game is one of survival, and ultimately death. From the games viewpoint you’re already dead, you just haven’t dropped to the floor and the only mystery left is how long can you stave off death and how exactly you bite the bullet.
All though IndieStone have only released the pre-alpha tech demo Project Zomboid looks very promising as a Zombie survival RPG .In the pre-alpha demo you start off as generic Bob Smith, just a normal guy with a lovingly rendered bald spot and your wife Katie Smith who lies injured on a bed. Katie acts as your guide through this mini tutorial where you learn how to craft bandages, find pillows, administer painkillers and learn how to barricade doors and windows.
After tending to the basics the game also guides you through basic defence and the basic rules of Project Zomboid:
1. Hunger, sleep deprivation, illness and fear- all these things will affect your strength and your ability to survive the waiting hordes of Zombies. In order to combat these demons make sure you get enough sleep, keep yourself well-fed and even use pills to reduce Zombie induced Panic.
2. Stupid shit that gets you killed in real life will get you killed in this game. For example on my first play through, heating up a much needed can of soup I was distracted by my harpy wife and forgot to turn the stove off. 2 minutes later the kitchen was in flames and so was I.
3. When fending off the Zombie hordes be careful and try not to get injured, even just a scratch has a 25 percent chance of infecting you and a bite is almost certain death with a 96 percent chance of joining the horde.
4. Your health is very important, sickness or pain can impact on your strength, speed and your ability to remain undetected by those who want to eat you. And just like in real life groin injuries are both hilarious and all too possible, so be on the lookout because Zombies have no concept of personal boundaries.
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In the full game the sandbox option allows you to slightly customize your character with skin tone, previous occupation and the ability to pick both negative and positive personality traits such as athletic or agoraphobic. After choosing your character you’re then dropped into a random house and the game begins much the same as the tutorial, except you don’t have to smother your wife in order to skip the tut.
IndieStone is taking a similar approach to Minecraft in the way of both enticing new customers and keeping their current ones interested with the ability to play the unfinished game right away and having the option of downloading updates instead of waiting months for the finished product. With the updates now coming hard and fast after sorting out their piracy and checkout issues IndieStone are adding new features weekly including ‘save on quit’, multiple maps and NPC’s with the ability to form groups of survivors. IndieStone has also opened up the game to modders, currently letting them to create maps, but later on with the possibility of creating entire storylines!
Overall, even though the game is not even in the beta phase of development Project Zomboid shows great promise as the ultimate Zombie RPG, adding refreshing realism into the genre of Zombie gaming.
Grab a copy of this game before it tries to take a bite out of you. :p
Rhiannon Emery.
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